Chencho

No, I can’t throw the ball: I’m taking pictures from the second floor.

In March, the winter seems to be over. One can’t be sure, though: snow in April isn’t rare.

While I sat waiting outside a chapel (Sankt Anton, to be precise), Chencho preferred a somewhat elevated position which offered a nicer view on the mountains (and approaching humans). The thing in the corner of his right eye isn’t a tear –it’s a tick we removed when we were back home.

Landsberg is an old town notable for large portions of its walls still existing (and for the ex-president of the FC Bayern having to spend jail time there). We had been in Landsberg before, but strangely I couldn’t remember much of our former visit. It may depend on my company; it consisted entirely of art historians, this time.

He could make himself comfortable on the seat, but for some reason (probably because he isn’t fond of traveling), Chencho keeps a low profile when we make trips. He does appreciate the leg room, though.

Landshut, another old Bavarian town. We had been there before; I still have a vivid memory of a visit we made around 1989 with our first dog, shortly before he suddenly died: images of that trip long haunted me in my dreams. We were tired from sight-seeing, and had to rest a while before driving home (yes, we’re getting old...). Chencho needed a little patting from my wife –just to confirm that everything’s OK.

After dinner, it’s nice to have an espresso and an Amaretto di Saronno at a street café. There are three in Sabbioneta, and we visited them all, at different times.

Picture taken with a camera bungling down, while having a drink at yet another Sabbioneta street café. Chencho did fine, being shielded by a bunch of familiar legs.

There were times we went on vacation by train, but we didn’t need today’s infrastructure then...

At least some one noticed me exiting the church. Our landlady in Montepulciano was puzzled by Chencho’s name. Naturally, it is pronounced “Kenko” in Italy, and when we explained it should rather be “Cencio” she had to laugh, that being Italian for “rag”, per pulizia , with which to clean up things (in German, that would be “Lumpen” –“Lumpi” actually is a term of endearment for dogs). I’m glad we weren’t in France: the imaginary landlady would probably have understood “chien chaud”, meaning “hotdog”...

It was quite a surprise, when my wife entered our bedroom. Were we angry? No. Just a little disappointed... After all, there should be less destructive ways of telling “Chencho was here”.

Given the distance dividing us, it was never easy to visit our daughter, but recently it has become even harder: She now shares her home with a cat called Nelly. Naturally, Chencho wanted to make friends, but because of the risks involved we wouldn’t let him, so they both remained excited observers.

Traveling is stressful for Chencho. And moments of rest are disturbed by some one taking pictures. Thankfully, it happened from a distance, and no flash was fired.

Our base in Holland, Oostknollendam, is built along a levee, which means you can, from your front door, go to the right or to the left, and will have to return the same way you came. This time we had gone to the left. The lack of possibilities may explain why Chencho isn’t excited about our walks. And it shows.

Chencho lying in an easy chair at our home base in the Netherlands, waiting for things to happen. So did I, as a matter of fact, though it may not have comforted him. At ISO 8000, you cannot seriously expect to take high-quality pictures, but sometimes you’re glad being able to take pictures at all.

It must be pretty uncomfortable, lying on the stairs like this, but it happened to be the best place for sun-bathing, so what would a Spanish dog do?

It’s no fun being harassed by a photographer, but what can a poor dog do?

For a dog, it’s hard to prove that you’ve been somewhere if photos only show you sitting or lying between your people’s feet. So it’s good that the background features the famous baptistery of Castrocaro (which appears to be open once a year, and of course not while we were there). Sorry for the poor technical quality of this picture: I took it with my mobile phone which isn’t exactly state-of-the-art (and, for me, generally a low-priority item).